Electrical connectors have been commonly used in the past. One form of connector typically used is a male/female connector in which both connectors are encased in a housing. For instance, in the field of heating circuits for respiratory therapy devices, it is frequently desirable to use a female electrical connector that is encased in an insulated housing. The corresponding male connector is also encased in an insulated housing such that the housing of the female connector can be inserted into the male connector housing. In a currently used male/female connector system for heated electrical circuits, as illustrated in FIG. 1., the female connector housing essentially fits completely within the male connector housing.
One problem with such a system is that it is very difficult for a technician to disengage the female electrical connector housing from the male connector housing because there is nothing for the technician to grasp to remove the housing other than insulated wires extending from the housing. If a technician pulls on the insulated wires to disengage the female housing, several undesirable problems may occur. For instance, the tension created by pulling the wires may cause the wires to disconnect from electrical terminals located on the end of each wire within the housing. It is possible that such disconnection may produce undesirable arcing.
Therefore, a need existed to develop a male/female electrical housing connector system which allowed an operator to easily grasp the inner housing to disengage it from an outer housing. A need also existed to develop an inner housing which provided strain relief on wires extending through the housing to reduce the possibility of electrical disconnection or arcing if the wires are subjected to stress.
Additionally, a need existed to develop an inner housing which completely prevented the possibility of a technician from contacting the electrical terminals at the end of an insulated wire.
These and other needs have been met through the development of the invention described below.